A Story's End is Just the Next Story's Beginning
by KingShadowOmega
Summary: I do not own TMNT. A story based on older and more mature turtles and their continued struggles after the Shredder is gone. It's based in an original timeline that borrows from '03 & '12 TMNT TV shows & the comics and will feature several OCs, a deep story line, action sequences & romance. This won't be short: at least 25 chapters. I'll be updating biweekly as school/work permits.
1. Chapter 1

**Quick Author's Note:** **_Hi_** _**guys, this is my fanfiction for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I just want to start by stating that I do not own TMNT nor any of its characters minus the OCs I've written. This is going to be rated T for infrequent cursing, suggestive themes and violence. The universe I have decided to use is sort of a combination between the 2003 & 2012 television series and the comics. I love the 1987 series, but story wise, it is by far the weakest. While I understand these three renditions ('03 & '12 tv series and the comics) are somewhat different to radically different you'll just have to go with it since I'll be swapping between which timelines I'll use. In some cases I might prefer how the comics handled it and go with that. In others I'll prefer one of the tv shows. And in other instances I might prefer to make a combination of the storylines and make an original backstory. If I choose the latter I'll most likely explain it in text. Chances are if you're fans of many iterations of TMNT you'll know immediately which I'm using or if it's something entirely new. If you can't figure it out and just have to know exactly what's going on, then just message me about it.**_

_**I will update as often as I have time to write and as work and school permit (not to mention my unhealthy video game habit). Finally, I hope you guys enjoy.**_

* * *

1

Michelangelo

It was getting late as Mikey took a turn down another familiar alley. He had just stopped and gotten a slice at Joe's and was now on his way home. He didn't like Joe's, but it was cheaper than most everywhere and Joe didn't ask too many questions. Questions were everywhere now; everywhere since they killed the Shredder.

That was four years ago, but it felt like longer. He could remember how they used to think it would be over without Shredder and that they could live out the rest of their lives happily, but they were wrong. What could he say? They were just teenagers then, they had no idea that life was never going to be like that.

Mikey walked out of the alley and sat on a bench at the end of the basketball court of the neighborhood he was passing through. There were a few kids on the far court playing and a couple of parents with their young ones by the swingsets. For a moment, Mikey just sat on the bench waiting. He looked at the nearby apartment building and all of its graffiti. Mikey liked graffiti, he was always the artist among his brothers, but he especially loved how all the foot clan graffiti had been covered up. It had only been a few years, but the Foot was gone. Or at least it was no longer a threat. When they had finished off the Shredder, Leo had let Karai live and while they had all disagreed at first, she had never made a move to continue the Foot's old ways. In fact, Mikey had heard that Karai was doing a lot of good for the city, like helping to rebuild it after the Ninja-Mutant War. She and Leo had completely eradicated the remainder of the Foot clan as well. Furthermore, she was big into charity, but then again, Oroku Saki had been 'benevolent' to New York too. Leo trusted Karai and while Mikey felt hesitant about trusting Karai completely, he trusted his brother's instincts and now called Karai a friend.

There was something odd about the graffiti, Mikey thought though. He had seen this sign a lot recently. It was the kanji for dream and while it was nothing bad on its own per se, Mikey couldn't help think he had seen it far too frequently to think nothing of. He would tell Donnie back at the lair. He tore his gaze from the graffiti and saw no one was looking. He hopped up from the bench quickly flipped up the manhole about 3 feet in front of him and jumped down below pulling the manhole closed.

He almost landed in a particularly foul puddle, but as a ninja he kicked off the wall and onto solid ground. He pulled off his shoes and then took off his jeans and folded them neatly. Then he pulled off his jacket, pulled it inside out into its bag form and put the rest of his clothing into it, including his hat, gloves and glasses. He remembered how psyched he had been to get clothes for the first time and how much fun he thought it would be, but time is not so merciful. Clothing had become a chore now and he felt so much better out of it. His pads, belt and bandana were all he ever needed now as far as he was concerned.

He pulled his bandana tighter and put on the backpack-jacket Donnie had made for them, and made his way quickly and quietly down the sewers to the lair. He had to report in.

* * *

Donatello

"Yes ma'am. Uh-huh that's right. Yes you have to make sure it's plugged in. Okay, I'm happy I could help. Alright bye." And then Donnie let out a huge yell. At least this time he did not lose it on the phone. Out of all the jobs Donnie had, this was his least favorite and surprisingly the most difficult. Donnie currently had fourteen jobs, but the tech support gig for Super Computers NYC was the best paying. It alone put Donnie into 6 figures, but he hated how dumb the people who called were. It wasn't hard, but it was time consuming and if he could not solve something over remote desktop it was often infuriating. The other jobs Donnie had, required no interaction with others except for his supervisors by email. They were pretty standard networking and cybersecurity gigs and since the majority of his bosses thought he was a burn victim he could do any on site maintenance at night when no one was around.

Now a normal person would have a lot of trouble with fourteen jobs, but Donnie was not normal. Seeing as how Donnie was a super genius and had experience decoding, translating and reprogramming alien technology, often times on the fly, he could handle these jobs like they were nothing. Normally he could fix a problem from his T-cell alone.

Donnie leaned back into his chair and stretched. It was almost seven and he had still not done afternoon practice. He hopped up and headed down the stairs from his office to the living room. As much as he loved the way the lair used to be he loved how it looked now. A normal person coming into the lair from the sewers outside would truly think they had walked into the twilight zone. The lair was huge now. Ever since Donnie had began binge watching House Hunters episodes late at night he got hooked on all the DiY shows and quickly got into architecture. With a little bit of excavating and some money that his jobs had afforded him, Donnie had transformed the lair into a mansion. It still had a homey feel to it and was still sewer-like in design, but it was so much more than that. They had a theatre for crying out loud!

As Donnie approached the dojo he began creeping quietly. As he lurked closer to its door he realized how stupid he was being and just went in. He grabbed his training staff and started going through his stances. He guessed old habits died hard. It had been four years since Splinter died protecting them, yet he still had trouble believing it. The Ninja-Mutant War had claimed many lives. Both the Foot ninjas and the rebel mutants had lost lives in the war, but so had many innocents in the city. And of course Splinter too. The war had been too much, he and his brothers had been too stretched. Donnie had been in charge of making sure the portal to dimension X did not open, but got trapped battling Baxter Stockman at the same time. Leo, Mikey and Raph were rescuing Splinter, but ended up splitting up as Leo crossed swords with Karai for Mikey and Raph to go on. The two were then attacked by Leatherhead whom was running rampant with an overdose of adrenaline. As Mikey stayed to calm and maybe redirect Leatherhead's wrath, Raph had gone to finally free Splinter, but that was the last good thing that happened to them that day.

Donnie shivered as he swung his bo down hard for the five hundredth time. He laid it down in front of him and sat down to meditate. He tried to banish these old thoughts, but now it was flooding into him. He remembered his T-cell ringing and April pleading for help as her and Casey were overwhelmed by the Shredder. He remembered Stockman's robotic body pulverising the room around him and finally the ticking. The bomb that had been set. To this day Donnie still did not know who activated the bomb, but it was that bomb that had truly taken their father from them.

His aura wavered slightly as he tried to remain calm in his meditation. He should probably just stop meditating all together, but Splinter would not have wanted that. As he thought back he remembered Raph answering the T-cell saying he was coming. But he and Splinter ended up getting separated as the cyber Foot ninjas flooded them. Raph made it to Shredder first and saved April at the last second. Casey was already in a bloody heap on the ground. He had lost an eye and April had a deep wound in her side. Raph drew his sais and put himself between them and the Shredder. As much as Donnie thought Raph was an idiot for doing it he knew his brother would not have been able to carry the two to safety with Shredder there.

Donnie himself had finally managed to pin Baxter under a lift and had dismantled the portal, but the bomb was nowhere near him. He began running and calling his brothers to see if anyone was near it. Leo was the first to answer having just beaten Karai and her elite guard. He had sounded awful, but it was Leo so he immediately began heading for the bomb. Mikey had spilled Leatherhead into the sewers with a horde of Foot ninjas and was heading there too. When he arrived at the bomb he saw Mikey over April and Casey. Raph was crouched beside them nursing his chest; Donnie could see there were chunks of his plastron (the 'belly' part of his shell) cracked and broken. Later Donnie learned that Raph had spent the majority of his fight with the Shredder protecting April and Casey until Splinter had showed up. The bomb was in the same room as the Shredder! The evil helmeted ass was currently engaged in combat with Master Splinter and it was clear the bomb would only be reached over his dead body. As Donnie had made his way to them he saw Leo enter from another corridor with what must have been hundreds of mutants. Donnie later learned that they had all been scheduled for disposal and that Leo had released them in the event that the bomb were to go off. That was when it happened; Splinter disarmed Shredder and kicked him down. As Master Splinter pounced to finish Shredder, Shredder pulled out a detonator to take everyone down with him.

Donnie shuddered and felt his aura flicker many times until he finally steadied himself. He let out a deep breath and continued to remember. Master Splinter had hooked his tail on a pipe from above in mid-pounce and flung himself at the bomb knocking himself and the machinery over and into a vat of scalding water. Then the bomb detonated and blew half the building off, but not all of it. By submerging the bomb the blast radius had been diminished and Splinter had saved them all. Unfortunately, the Shredder was back up too and had retrieved his weapon. Donnie could remember being dumbstruck, he could hear Mikey crying and Raph screaming. He was in shock and if truth be told Shredder would likely have picked them clean, had it not been for Leo.

True everyone has their faults, but it was at that moment that Donnie knew exactly why their father had chosen Leo to be leader. Sure Leo was brave and responsible and yeah he was admittedly the most skilled too, but what made him leader was his cool head. They had just lost their father, but Leo stood before Shredder putting himself between the Shredder and his brothers. Donnie wasn't sure about Mikey and Raph, but he could clearly see Leo's chi. It was steady. Furious, but steady. He had seen Leo fight all the time, but never did he appreciate how important Leo's overall mastery of ninjutsu was. There was nothing fancy like how Mikey fought or overly aggressive and heavy handed like with Raph. There was no keep-away or calculations like how Donnie himself fought either; it was just the basics, but faster and stronger. Leo's greatest strength had always been balance: he had no obvious strengths like the rest of them, but no glaring weaknesses either and more importantly Leo excelled at everything. Leo had abandoned the code of bushido he had always held and was facing Shredder as only a ninja. Later, Leo had explained to them that bushido was a code of honor which samurai's always carried and while Leo still believed in it, he was also a ninja and as the Shredder was a man without honor, he was deserving of none in return. Donnie wholeheartedly agreed and could remember the frighteningly accurate ninja stars and kunai Leo had used in that fight, ducking to the shadows at one second and back clashing blades with the Shredder's the next. It was a bloody fight between them culminating in a midair clash that Donnie thought time had stopped for. Then, when it looked like the Shredder had won Leo had somehow dodged in midair and came down lightning fast on the Shredder. Leo had a large gash running down over his left eye, which Donnie managed to save later back at the lair. The Shredder, who had dropped to his knees however, was not so fortunate. Donnie could remember his haunting last words like it were yesterday. 'Even in death, you will never be free of me!' he stammered slowly.

"That," Leo responded slowly, "I can live with…" Leo had then sheathed his blades and walked away. Later they would all chide him for trying to sound cool, even though they all thought he had actually had sounded so; even Raph had thought so! For a second, the Shredder stayed still on his knees, his menacing eyes staring a hole into Leo's retreating figure. Then the top half of his head slid off and the Shredder was no more.

Donnie swallowed hard and strengthened his aura. The thing about meditation was that even when you are unfocused you should continue. Regaining focus is a powerful thing that helps ones mind exceptionally. He let out a sigh and stood up. He walked to the end of the dojo and bowed to the plaque on the wall. The plaque was of course for Splinter. After they dug Splinter up and burned the Shredder they agreed they should perform a funeral for him. Donnie had managed to construct a beautiful crypt overlooking their father's treasured rock garden. A small tear ran down Donnie's face as he whispered to his father and then Donnie decided it was time to head to the command center. Donnie placed his practice bo on the wall and exited the dojo as he saw Mikey enter the lair. Good, it was time to do his real job.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Author's Note: Hi guys, this is Chapter 2 of my fanfiction for TMNT. Sorry for the late post, but life got in the way. I'll also be posting Chapter 3 today as well.**_

2

Donatello

"How was it up top Mikey?"

Mikey waved to Donnie, but went straight into the kitchen. He reached into the pantry grabbed a bag of popcorn and then threw it into the microwave. He walked around the island and into the common room and tossed his bag to the floor beside the couch. Then he picked up some clothes lying over the back of the couch and started putting them on. Mikey might like complaining about having to wear clothes when scouting topside, but that was only because he needed to be covered head to toe. In the lair he rarely ever wore anything, but his black gym shorts and his orange and black hawaiian shirt which he left unbuttoned. As Mikey headed back into the kitchen he said, "Got a couple of leads, Joe's still sucks and something terrible happened."

"What," Donnie asked as he walked into his command center. The command center was Donnie's nickname for his real office. He had his office upstairs for his jobs, but the command center was an upgraded version of his crime tracking computers he had used for so long against the foot and the krang. The computer systems he had now puts his old equipment to shame and back. In fact, Donnie's T-cell alone was at least ten times stronger than his old system was. He grabbed his lab coat off a hook as he entered and threw it on. Unlike Mikey and Raph, Donnie had not really gotten into wearing clothes, but his lab coat was different. His lab coat not only looked cool and sleek, but it was convenient with all the things it could hold. While he didn't like wearing clothes, but since the labcoat looked odd alone he also wore a pair of black, sleek slacks too. He put them both on and then he plopped himself into the lay-Z-boy he had modified into a hoverchair, something he thought of after reading some of Mikey's X-Men comic books.

"They closed Marty's Games!" Mikey exclaimed loudly. Donnie groaned because he knew he would have to listen to whatever petty gripes Mikey had before he got to his actual report. "There putting another GameStop there! Like five isn't enough! Where are we supposed to get older retro games now? They think they can come into my city and..."

Donnie nodded along as his T-cell popped up an email about a worm virus for one of his jobs. Still listening and inputting occasional encouragement he grabbed a nearby laptop labelled for this particular job and began fixing the problem. The microwave rang and Mikey ran to fetch it as Donnie annoyedly dealt with a pop-up attack he had accidentally started when he pushed the wrong key because the microwave started.

"You hear that," yelled Mikey staring down the hall towards their bedrooms. "I thought I saw something by Leo's door." Donnie could see Mikey still staring down the hall for a long time until finally he shook his head and headed back in. By the time Mikey had walked back in and laid down on the couch Donnie had settled the problems and was folding the laptop back up.

"Okay," continued Mikey, "So yeah, that sucks a big one, but I guess I can deal with it for now. As far as the scouting goes I saw six confirmed and heard about another three."

"Any we know?"

"Nah I checked in on all 33 we know about today. All keeping safe and quiet. Uhhh, except Tammy."

"What's Tammy doing?" Donnie asked looking up from another laptop he pulled open for a different job having trouble with their servers.

"She wasn't home dude, rotten food in the fridge too. Most of her stuff looked packed up. I don't know dude, I think she might have bailed."

"Well shit," cursed Donnie as he finished with the laptop and put it away. He swiveled in his chair to face his actual computer complete with at least ten monitors and began hammering away on the keyboard. Like the others Mikey was talking about, Tammy was a mutant which had been accidentally created by the Krang's mutagen. She had been a college freshman on her way out of a Starbucks when it happened. As she had been handling chameleons in class earlier, she became mutated into an anthropomorphic chameleon. Unlike many of the other mutations New York had seen, Tammy had remained sane and fought with them during the Ninja-Mutant War. If truth be told she seemed to be one of the few who didn't want to become human again.

After the Ninja-Mutant War Donnie and his brothers tried to decide what to do next. By now New York knew all about mutants and while they claimed to want to return them all to normal Donnie knew better. Mutants were strong and some spectacular with what they could do; the first necessity someone looks for in trying to weaponize something. He had wanted to aid many whom had helped them, particularly Leatherhead and the Princess Bascilica, an Ultrom which was a clan of Krang that served as the Yin to the Krang's Yang. He had been very vocal about this with his brothers when deciding what to do after the Shredder. Mikey had backed him immediately, as he always did, and Raph too agreed, but Leo had not. Leo believed the Foot Clan was not all gone and needed to be rounded up and dealt with so that they could not regain any strength. In retrospect, Donnie could now see Leo's point, which they later learned had been valid, but Donnie had been too wrapped up and passionate to have seen it then.

Raph had of course butted heads with Leo, but before anything could happen Leo shocked them all. He had conceded Raph's point and said that he was right. That was when Leo made a decision that had changed the way they lived for good. He told them to go ahead with their plan while he went ahead with his. He saw the need for both and felt this way would cover both. Donnie had wished he had spoken up then, but he hadn't. He had been one-track in his desire to save all the mutated souls. Leo had begun hunting the Foot and within the year had put Karai on the right path, taken out all the rogue ninja in New York and had even crushed the Purple Dragons. Donnie, Mikey and Raph had begun helping Mutants in the meantime. Mikey found them and kept them supplied and happy, mostly with the fortune Donnie had made through his jobs. If truth be told, in the beginning before all the money, Donnie had been desperate and against his better judgment had let Raph talk him into swindling a casino with his ninja skills at a craps table; the only bad rolls they had made were on purpose to deter beliefs about them cheating. Donnie kept a steady flow of major dough and had begun investing and playing the stock market, and worked for a cure. Raph's job was to deal with petty street crime and to bring in any of the violent mutants. Some were just scared and confused, others were just too far gone. Raph didn't kill them though, he brought them in so Donnie could freeze them. He stored them in a cryogenics laboratory he had built a few levels under the lair.

It was slow going, but they were making progress. And then three years ago Leo left the lair to finish off the Foot. Apparently, Leo had caught wind that the Foot had multiple branches all around the world and that the Shredder was just the head of one branch. It was weird without Leo, much more than Donnie had thought it would be. Leo always seemed to know what to do and as much as Raph liked to boast about how great of a leader he would be without Leo around to 'hold him back', Donnie was particularly annoyed to see that he seemed to be doing most of the 'leader' work.

"Promise to keep a secret Mikey?" Donnie asked as his fingers flew across his 6 keyboards.

"Uh...ok."

"Every mutant we've found and helped I've placed a tracking device in."

"Dude!? I get their mutants, but you don't have to tag them like they're deer man."

"Okay, first off," Donnie groaned still typing away, "I don't appreciate the analogy. Secondly, I needed to know where they were in case their mutations ever got worse. Plus if that did happen, the tracker would send me feedback of their DNA changes as well. So it's for safety purposes Mikey." With a slap of a final key the radar popped up and a green dot and red dot appeared near the screen's middle.

"What's that Donnie?"

"The green one's the lair and the red one's Tammy," Donnie said as he pulled a portable up on his T-cell. He hopped up and grabbed his bo, quickly holstering it. "This says Tammy is a block away from the lair...and in the sewers too."

"Whaaatt?" Mikey exclaimed, "She's in the sewers? That can't be right bro. Dude, you need to stop trying to be funny Donnie, it's not really you man. Leave it to the professionals like yours truly."

Donnie shook his head as he slapped Mikey over the head and headed out of the command center. "So what about the three rumored?"

"They're somewhere in Chinatown. All I know is that they're all together."

"Okay and the six?"

"Two are being detained by the government; holding cells right now until they can bring in some transports. I have two others meeting me Saturday at the usual safe house, but the last two are tricky."

"Tricky how?" Donnie asked pausing in the hall to look back at Mikey.

"Tricky, like how one is running for their life from the other bro."

"You get a hold of Raph?"

"Tried to, but he must be afraid of his phone this week cuz the jackass hasn't answered once."

Donnie massaged his forehead as he silently cursed his 'free spirited' brother beneath his breath. "Okay, well we'll deal with Raph after we find out what's up with Tammy. Anything else to report?"

"Nope," Mikey said as he crumpled up his popcorn. "No wait, actually there was something else. I've been seeing this sign graffitied all over town like how the foot symbol used to be. It's the kanji for dream. Mean anything to you egghead?"

"Dream huh? No can't say I've heard anything, but I'll look it up when we get back. Let's mov-" Like a flash he felt a prickling feeling on his shell and quickly turned down the hall where he could of sworn he saw something by Leo's door. Mikey had not made a move though and was walking towards the tunnels without a care. Donnie studied the hall for a few seconds before finally tearing his gaze away. He'd investigate later, but for now he decided to deal with Tammy first. "Okay let's go Mikey."


	3. Chapter 3

_**Author's Note: Hi guys, this is my fanfiction for TMNT. Sorry for the late post, but I've uploaded Chapters 2 & 3 today. I'll try to be better about uploading weekly. Enjoy.**_

3

Michelangelo

Mikey & Donnie pounded down the tunnels to get to the point on Donnie's T-cell. Tammy wasn't far, but there were a lot of collapsed paths to get around. Mikey followed Donnie's billowing labcoat as they ran, but it would only flutter for so long, as Donnie would keep stopping to make notes about the tunnels explaining that he hadn't had time to do it recently. Mikey just nodded along as Donnie went into geek mode. It was times like this that Mikey really missed Leo. Raph was an ass, but Mikey got along with him fine, even if Raph tried to bully him. Donnie was the one Mikey was closest to, but it was hard to keep up with Donnie's mind; Leo was the one who used to do all that. When Leo left, Mikey was the one who had to grow up a bit and start supporting Donnie. It's not like Raph was going to have the patience for it. Mikey would much rather have been in his room back at the lair reading the batch of vintage comics he had found tossed away on a street corner. There were like twenty-five back issues of Sewer Scares! and even a couple of old Super Pals as well. Mikey could just taste the awesomeness awaiting him back home, but right now he needed to help Donnie.

Part of it was that Mikey felt guilty of all the work Donnie always did, after all they were basically millionaires because of him. Donnie did everything around the lair, including the cleaning! Or at least AMA did; AMA was short for Artificial Maid Android. Mikey had made Donnie pick that particular name so Mikey could nickname her AMA, which Mikey had learned was something called an acronym. AMA was great around the lair, but like half of the things Donnie made, it basically put life into easy mode. Truth was, Donnie had really stepped up after Splinter had died. Life was just so difficult without Splinter there and it didn't help that each of them blamed themselves. Leo blamed himself for not being there sooner. Part of it was that Leo felt if he had not saved the mutants on his way to the Shredder's chambers, he would have been there to save Splinter. Deep down Mikey thought that was one of the reasons Leo had wanted to hunt down the Foot; so he wouldn't have to be constantly reminded of his so-called failure every time he saw the mutants. Raph blamed himself for having not been strong enough to defeat the Shredder in the first place. He also felt if he had not been so blinded by rage he could have lasted long enough to fight beside Splinter. Donnie blamed himself for neglecting some of his training for all his gadgets and gizmos. In his mind if he had not skipped training, he would have beaten Baxter quicker and made it to the bomb in time. For himself, Mikey had blamed himself for just not being as committed as his brothers always were. Mikey was often scared and flighty and felt if he had helped his father fight Shredder, he might still be here today.

However, part of life was moving on. Mikey wasn't sure about Leo & Raph, but Donnie & himself had put those thoughts behind them. None of them were truly at fault. Leo had stopped Karai, her elite guard (four ninjas almost as skilled as Karai herself), saved hundreds of mutants and even killed the Shredder in one-on-one combat. He could blame himself about the mutants all he wanted, but the fact was Splinter would never have wanted Leo to abandon anyone. Raph was mad at being too hotheaded and not good enough, but there was no other choice. He had had to fight an opponent as powerful as their father while defending Casey & April too. Even if he had had his temper in check the Shredder was not a man above using others as bait or a shield. Donnie reprogrammed and shut down an alien portal no one had ever seen before with no formal schooling and nothing but MacGyver-like talent, all the while fighting Baxter the Super Android. Without Donnie the world would have been over and no one could expect him to be everywhere at once. For his own part, Mikey, unlike his brothers, could see his own limitations. He was not strong like Raph or smart like Donnie or even brave and skilled like Leo, but he was just himself; the little brother who always tagged along. But that was something Mikey was fine with and something he would not have had any other way. The truth was while he wished he could have helped Splinter, he would only have been in the way and maybe even been a liability the Shredder may have used against his father. He could have blamed himself for not being smart enough to disarm the bomb or even for having not studied hard enough to have been a better fight for the Shredder, but the one thing Mikey knew was that Splinter would have never wanted him, or any of them for that matter, harping on what could have been. Time is one way and the decisions we make along our path shape us into who we are. Besides, more than anything else, in the end, Splinter made the decision to stop the bomb on his own and no matter how much he and his brothers didn't like it, they had to respect their father's decision.

Mikey let out a long sigh and cracked his neck as Donnie got back up from typing notes on his Shellex, a watch which doubled as a computer with a virtual screen and keyboard. Mikey led the way down the final tunnel as they came to drapes hanging over a side tunnel. Mikey could see Donnie nod him in, so Mikey pulled back the drapes and headed in. As they walked a couple dozen feet in they heard a loud scream. They almost froze, but since they were ninja they didn't. Instead they both shot forward at the sound, themselves not making a one. It was definitely Tammy and she seemed like she was being hurt. They ran through what looked like a makeshift home and came to the room Tammy was in. She was pinned by something or someone and whatever it was was definitely bigger than her. Without hesitation, Mikey burst in the room and slammed his nunchaku across what he guessed was the assailant's head, flinging the assailant across the room.

"I said to wait dumbass," Donnie yelled grabbing Mikey's shoulder. The light was lit now and Mikey turned to look at his other brother rubbing his temple. Raph stood to his full height of 6'2", a full four inches taller than Mikey, and he looked pissed.

He looked around at the angry look Tammy was giving him too and finally it made sense. "Oh," was all he managed to say as he turned a shade as red as his brother's bandana. Donnie let out an annoyed groan as he grabbed Mikey by the bandana and led him out of the room. After a few seconds Raph followed out having tucked his junk back under his shell. Tammy followed behind him and stood leaning against the doorway with a sheet wrapped around her. "Mikey," Raph uttered angrily, "I'm going to rip your fucking head off!"

Just before Raph could move Donnie whacked him over the back of his head with his staff. "Shut up, Raph we don't have time for this. Get dressed and get ready for work."

"Excuse me? I'm kinda busy right now one and two I dare you to hit me ag-."

WHACK! Donnie's bo smacked Raph again. "Seriously Raph, we don't have time for this. Besides it's not like you can finish now anyway."

If Raph had looked mad before when Mikey had hit him, he looked murderous now. "Donnie, don't push your luck. And for the record, I did plan to finish."

"Yeah right," Donnie came back, "not after what just happened you won't." Donnie clicked a few things on his Shellex as Raph grabbed a pair of jeans from a hook. He pulled them on and then grabbed the sneakers next to a bench. "Be honest Raph, the only way you'd finish would be to spite Leo." Raph still looked mad, but he didn't say anything. "So this is why you haven't answered any of our calls all week? Dude what the fuck?"

"It's none of your business what I choose to do."

"That's not the point dumbass!" Donnie yelled back. "I don't give a shit about you and Tammy!" Donnie hastily turned to Tammy and said, "In the sense that you're together not your well being of course."

Mikey could see Raph was getting angrier as Donnie continued to lecture him. Mikey almost thought it was funny how Raph hadn't attacked him yet and instead only listened. Had it had been Leo the two would have already been at each others throats. Then again Raph had gotten a lot better at dealing with his temper. Personally Mikey thought it may also have had something to do with Raph knowing Leo could handle himself if they fought. Raph was a lot stronger than the rest and in terms of skill was better than them all, but Leo. Subconsciously Mikey thought Raph was actually a lot softer than the rest of them too, which is why he was letting Donnie go so far. Plus Raph too knew just how much Donnie did for them and how large a plate he had. Raph wasn't stupid, but at the same time he knew he was better at being pointed towards a target to rip it apart than doing the pointing. Still, it was getting a little out of hand so Mikey decided to intervene; something he had been doing a lot since Splinter had gone. Splinter had always been the glue that held them together so Mikey had decided to try and fill the void. After all, it was truly the one something he could do better than his brothers.

"I get you want some privacy, but we're twenty-two now Raph!" Donnie continued, "We're not teenagers anymore. You have a T-cell, which I might add is practically a supercomputer; the only thing it doesn't do is read your mind! And believe me, something as advanced as that does have something as standard as a missed call list!"

"Okay, okay," Mikey interrupted. He pulled Donnie away and pushed him towards the makeshift lair's entrance. Mikey looked at Tammy and said, "Sorry for all this Tammy. You grew up a human so maybe you're a bit more accustomed to it, but we've been mutants like forever so we haven't had many of these American Pie moments, so yeah. Sorry for the...yeah just sorry." He turned to his brother and looked at the glare he was making and sighed. "Yeah and you too Raph, but ya know, Donnie ain't wrong. Anyway we'll be topside doing your job." With that he turned away and went after Donnie. They met just outside Tammy's lair. Mikey let out a little smile as he thought how Raph would react. He didn't actually mean what he had said to piss Raph off, but at the same time he knew his brother. One. Two. Three. Four.

"Mikey, Donnie hold up," they heard Raph call after them. Mikey let loose a huge grin as Raph played right into his hand. Being the kid brother might not be the most glamorous, but he always knew how to get his brothers to do what he wanted; even Leo went easy on him. "Look," Raph continued, "I know I should have called you guys, but for the first time in a long time, I'm happy. I don't know if you guys understand, but I'm really happy."

"Understand?" Donnie repeated. "You mean whether mutant freaks like us who have never known love and have always resigned ourselves to the inevitable loneliness accompanying it could understand you having found the happiness we've all always wished for? Yeah I guess you're right, how could we, your flesh and blood, ever hope to understand." Mikey had to admit, if there was anything that had definitely changed since Splinter it was Donnie toughening up. Donnie sighed aloud and then put his hand over Raph's shoulder. Donnie stood maybe three or four inches taller than Raph, but nowhere near as massive. He smiled at Raph and then said, "Raph we get it; we're your brothers and we'll always get it. And we're happy for you too, but seriously don't forget about your family." Raph nodded with a smirk and gave Donnie a bear hug.

"Wow, this is beyond cute. I think I might just gag." The three turned to look and saw Tammy standing in the doorway. Mikey had to admit as far as mutants went Tammy was probably one of the more attractive there was, aside from himself of course. She was slender with long legs and a long tail with just the right amount of human still in her to look sexy. Her hair was long and brown with a big yellow bow tied in it. She had put back on her orange capris and white camisole with her black scarf she wore as a belt. Plus as a chameleon she could basically cloak, which more importantly than being useful in battle was a great party trick as far as Mikey was concerned. Out of all the mutants they had saved Tammy was the only one who seemed to want to remain a mutant and the only one who actually spent time with them. Mikey guessed that would probably increase now.

"Aww, shut up Tammy," Raph said turning red.

"Awww, Raphie's blushing," Mikey teased garnering him one of the most dangerous looks Raph could muster.

"Alright, leave it alone Mikey," Donnie scolded. Donnie turned to Tammy and said, "So, this your new place? Mikey did rounds today and said your place was abandoned. We thought you were in trouble so we tracked you here."

"You tracked me?" she recoiled annoyed, "you put a tracking device on me?" She looked at Raph and asked, "Did you know?"

Somewhat surprisingly, Raph backed Donnie and said, "No, but I don't think Donnie's wrong either." Tammy's jaw dropped just like Mikey's and Donnie's and then Raph said, "It's dangerous for mutants now and while you can handle yourself, you're not a ninja like we are. Besides who knows that you won't mutate further? My brothers and I are in the clear there since there's been no incident in 22 years, but Donnie still keeps an eye on it." Mikey had to admit he was having a hard time believing what he was hearing. "Look," Raph continued shuffling his feet uncomfortably, "I may not always see eye to eye with my brothers, but if there is anything I do know, it's when it comes to anything that uses the brain, Donnie always knows best."

It was quiet for a moment as Tammy looked from Donnie to Raph and back and forth a few more times until finally looking at Mikey. She gave him a smile and then said to Donnie & Raph, "Okay I guess that makes sense, but maybe just give me my own T-cell so you can call first?"

"But of course," Donnie smiled back relieved. Mikey had to admit girls were so much more reasonable than guys were. Had it had been any guy, especially Raph, there would have been a full scale war.

"And yes, I decided to move down below as my neighbors were getting too nosy and Raph and I had gotten closer. Raph offered for me to stay in your lair, but a lady needs her privacy."

"I suppose that makes sense. I'll find another renter for the place in the meantime, but don't the sewers smell too much for you? Not just smell, but the fumes might actually be noxious. The lair's been outfitted with circulation systems specifically for April and Casey so they don't get sick from the sewer smells. You should stay in the lair for at least as long as it takes me to renovate your pad. And well, Raph's offer still stands Tammy. But, if not we can at least make this place look better and extend our security systems to it too. The Krang aren't entirely gone and they occasionally wander close to the lair."

"Sounds great Donnie," she said with a smile. "So," she said putting her arm around his arm and Raph's waist, "where are we going boys?"

"We got six, maybe nine, topside," Donnie relayed leading down the tunnel away from Tammy's lair. Four in immediate danger. We should head to the lair first to get our stuff."

"You don't have what you need already Donnie?" Raph asked surprised. "That doesn't sound like you. I thought that lab coat did everything."

"I know," Donnie nodded back, "I just feel like I forgot something," he said annoyed, patting his labcoat down. Normally it held everything he needed.

"Well that's cool, I was hoping to stop by the lair to sharpen my sais too."

Mikey kept quiet as they headed to the lair. It wasn't just Raph & Donnie; he felt like they should head to the lair first too. Just a gut feeling.


	4. Chapter 4

4

Raphael

It felt weird entering his room. Raph hadn't been home in a week, but he had been gone before. There had been all the trips to April's family farm house in Northampton and of course the countless 'accidental' trips to alien worlds, but those were different. This last week with Tammy got Raph thinking he might have just spent his last days in the lair. That was what grownups did, right? They meet someone and find a place of their own? Well he had finally done that and it felt like it was time. Well it had only been serious for a couple months, so maybe soon was more operative than now. Yet sitting on the edge of his bed sharpening his sais on the grindstone, he couldn't help thinking how unnatural it would be to live apart from his brothers. He and Donnie didn't always see eye to eye, but Raph felt living without the supernerd around him would feel wrong. Mikey would be most difficult for Raph to part with though. Mikey brought a charm and enjoyment that always kept Raph balanced.

The truth, however, was that if anything told Raph he shouldn't leave, it was when Leo had left; it had made Raph feel empty inside. Raph had wanted to stop Leo, but Leo hadn't been wrong. Moreover, Leo had agreed with him. It was different than when they had always butted heads in the past, this time they were in agreement. Leo understood the plight of all the mutants and the importance of returning them to normal, but he also knew that with the foot weakened like they were, there would be need of someone to clean them up. Raph had fought with Leo more than both Donnie & Mikey combined tenfold, but at the same time their bond was stronger than any other and his brother's absence left a large hole in his heart.

If there had been any good from it though it was that Raph had learned quite a bit about himself in Leo's absence. Raph had always believed he could have led just as effectively as Leo, but the truth was it was difficult to put the lives of others on the line; his own life was easy. Donnie was definitely the smartest, but Leo was definitely the most collected and decisive. Things always seemed to go wrong around them, Raph now realized, but Leo had always been able to keep them alive and, more often than not, succeed. Raph still led his brothers, but he knew he was not meant to lead and often discussed what to do with Donnie & Mikey (well mostly Donnie).

Tammy was seated beside him as he finished polishing off the dust from his now sharpened sais. She squeezed his large hand in hers and leaned in to kiss him. Tammy had been one of the best things that had ever happened to him. They had known her from the day Leo freed the mutants. She was pretty much the only one who had stayed with them that day. Thinking about it now, Raph felt she was smart to have stayed with he and his brothers, who were also mutants and had liberated her. The others had fled into hiding like fools. Some had been caught by the government, some had fled the city, but most had gone into hiding. Donnie thought that maybe their minds had not adjusted to their mutated bodies and fight or flight had taken over. Whatever that meant. Tammy, however, had kept, what Splinter had used to call, her 'humanity' from the beginning. She was the first to be relocated to a home from all the mutants they saved. Raph had been attracted to her like a hopeless fool and while he had kept around, he had only mustered the courage to make a move a few months ago. Being with Tammy had done wonders for his temper and it helped that she was a little spitfire too. The only oddity was that being happy all the time was a weird feeling. Not a bad feeling, just a weird one.

They rose and left his bedroom. In the massive hall, Raph suddenly thought maybe he and Tammy could stay in the lair. Donnie had turned the lair into a freaking five star hotel and Raph, Mikey and Leo had helped. They had all become very handy when Donnie had first started renovating five years ago. Maybe he could talk to Donnie about making a little separate apartment for the two of them. Donnie had been right on point about the smells of the sewer; Tammy's mutated form was not accustomed to them and she had been getting headaches. She was only putting up with it for him. Yeah, he would have to get Donnie to make something safe. As they walked towards the living room he caught a glimpse of movement to his left.

When he looked, he saw nothing out of the ordinary except for Leo's door. Still Raph had a nagging suspicion so he called out to his brothers, "You guys notice anything about Leo's room?"  
"Oh thank God!" Mikey exclaimed running up to him and hugging him. Raph shoved him off and whacked him over the head. "Oww, dude!" Mikey said annoyed, "seriously though man, I've thought someone was by the door like all month. But I figured everyone would think I ate too much junk food or been watching too many horror flicks. Then one night I thought the ghost tried to eat me cuz I didn't save it the last slice of sardine, chili pepper and extra whipped cream pizza!"

"Ok Mikey shut up," Raph said rolling his eyes, "no one, but you would want a slice of that anyway."

"Mikey that's fucking disgusting," Tammy blurted out with her hand over her mouth.

"It's an acquired taste Tammy," Mikey retorted. "Like peanut butter and clams." While it was definitely disgusting, Raph couldn't help grinning at Tammy's revulsion.

"It's got nothing to do with taste babe," he said putting his hand on her shoulder, "some of us just had to grow up with the 'special' one," he air quoted with a smirk. He turned to Donnie walking up the stairs and grinned. "You might be a bit safer testing out Donnie's pepperoni and marshmallow pizza."

Donnie laughed as he reached them. "Don't feel bad Tammy, you grew up a human while we grew up in a sewer as mutants remember? Genetically speaking certain tastes aren't so bad to us."

"Well, pepperoni marshmallow doesn't sound too bad, but as a rule I think I'll stay away from anything Mikey comes up with."

"Good rule," Raph & Donnie said in unison. Then Donnie said, "Mikey aside Raph, I thought I saw something by Leo's door after practice earlier this evening."

Raph nodded as he turned back to his brother's door. He drew one sai and opened the door. It was dark, but his ninja eyes immediately knew nothing was inside. As they walked in Donnie flicked the light on. Leo's room was exactly as it had been left; spotless and relatively bare.

"There's nothing in here," Tammy spoke up.

"Yeah," Raph agreed, "pretty much how it's always been. Just a bed, bookcase and a tatami mat for meditation." Raph spoke true; the only hint to personality in the room were the many swords adorning the walls and the small comic book collection beside the bookcase.

"Air's musty," Donnie noted. "No one has been in here in years. Basically just like Leo left it."

"So what, we're just going crazy?" Mikey asked.

"Well if you keep eating the dumb shit you always do you might be, but otherwise I don't know."

It was quiet for a moment as they left Leo's room and closed the door. It stayed that way up until they were pulling their things together to leave when Raph broke the silence. "Mike, Don," he said getting their attention, "you guys mind trying something with me?"

"Like?" Donnie queried.

"Just a few minutes," he half pleaded. Donnie stared at Raph for a moment and then the clock, but eventually relented. Mikey nodded. Raph turned to Tammy and told her to give them a sec as he led his brothers into the dojo. He wasn't sure why he was doing what he was going to do, but something just felt right about it. The three of them sat in a circle and began to meditate. At first, Raph became annoyed quite quickly, but slowly he found his peace and could feel his mind separate from his body with his brothers. They found themselves in the astral plane. They had all learned to do so from their father, but if truth be told Raph had not been doing so in quite some time. As he took in his surroundings he saw they weren't alone.

"God, don't you guys ever meditate?" Raph let a wave of relief wash over him as he saw his instincts had been right; it was Leo.

"Everyday," Raph said with a grin.

"Liar."

"Well I haven't," Mikey proclaimed almost proudly.

"I did earlier for the first time in a while," Donnie admitted.

"I know," Leo said warmly, "I couldn't reach you though. You were too caught up in turmoil. Actually, I've been trying to contact you guys since I left. I broke my T-cell in combat about a month in." Leo shook his head annoyed, "Ya know Donnie, you think as much as you're wrapped up in technology that you'd have a basic phone line for the lair. None of your work lines are even listed!" Leo let out a sigh and then said, "Anyway, the last six months especially I've been trying to reach out further than ever." Raph nearly lost his focus; he felt guilty. Leo had been trying to contact them all this time. Raph had been harboring a great deal of anger at Leo since he had left and it had only been compounded by the fact that Leo had not left even a single message. Well at least it made sense now and moreover it was just typical Leo to contact them like Splinter had before him.

"So wait," Mikey said quietly, "then the ghost I've been seeing all this time was you!"

Leo laughed. Raph had to admit, it made him feel whole to hear it again. Leo then looked at Raph & Donnie and said, "Wow, just wow! You guys should feel awful. Mikey felt my presence before you two did; Mikey!"

"You can call me Sensei Michelangelo," Mikey teased.

"I'll call you mud in a second dork!" Raph jokingly threatened. Even he had to admit he was impressed that Mikey was so in touch with his soul. Then again he didn't have to worry too much about his mind so there was really only the soul to worry about. More impressive was that Leo was able to touch their minds in the real world from the astral plane.

"Anyway bros," Leo said grabbing their attention. "I'm sorry it's been so long, but I'll be home real soon. I've wound up in the middle of something real big and couldn't leave quite when I wanted to. Let's just say it's a good thing we've been handling the foot clan and mutant problems at the same time because it would have been bad otherwise. Looks like we were both right." Leo turned to look away from them and faded just a fraction of translucence, but quickly solidified once again. "Sorry bros, looks like I have to go. Remember I'll see you all soon. I love you guys."

And with that Leo's astral projection dissolved. Raph, Mikey & Donnie looked at each other in silence for a moment. Slowly Raph lowered himself back into his body and opened his eyes to find tears. He wiped them away as he saw Donnie & Mikey doing the same. They stood up, bowed to their father's crypt and left the dojo.

It had only been ten minutes, but it had felt so much longer. The astral plane always had that effect on time. As they met with Tammy, grabbed what they needed and started hot footing it to the surface she fell in pace next to Raph, a dozen or so feet behind his brothers. "What happened, you look sort of upset."

"Definitely not upset," he said honestly. He told her about Leo and the astral plane. He was pleasantly surprised to see her amazement. "Ninjas can do that? It's not just fiction for cartoons and stuff?"

"Babe, you're talking about cartoons when you yourself are a mutant."

"Point taken," she laughed punching him in the arm. He laughed too as they ran across the sewers. Laughter was something Raph did a lot more these days and Tammy was certainly a big part of it, although he still had a temper, even though he found out that he was able to control it better than he ever could before. Raph wasn't like Donnie so he couldn't perform any psychology on the matter, but deep down Raph was pretty sure part of why he had always been mad was because they had been born different and unable to live the normal lives those above could. But with all the mutants, now there was hope for a semi-normal life. Raph could feasibly live a life with Tammy (or another mutant female if he somehow fucked it up) no different than how Casey and April were living above with little Shadow and another on the way. He grinned at the thought, but pulled himself back to the task at hand as Mikey came to a stop ahead of them.

"Okay so this was where the little one lost the big one," he said.

"Uh, what?" Tammy asked confused.

"Sweetheart, it'd probably be better if you learned real quick to ask Donnie pretty much everything," Raph said as he ducked a quick kick from Mikey.

"He means," Donnie began, "that the two mutants we're looking for were right through this manhole. One of the mutants is likely like you and the rest of the Guild Tammy; scared, alone, and with some semblance of humanity. The other is like the mutants the Foot & the Krang used to use; dangerous. Mikey said he saw one chasing the other so the primary objective is to save the prey."

"And the predator?" Tammy asked.

"Hopefully," Raph said with his sly grin settling back in, "he won't want to cooperate."


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, I just want to apologize for the awful wait to upload this. Since it's been such a big wait I'll be uploading chapters 5 & 6 this week as well as chapters 7 & 8 two weeks from now. Life just got in the way again. Also I've updated chapters 1 through 4 and cleaned them up again, so if you'd like you can reread them or skim them if you run across an inconsistency later on. Thanks for the long wait.**

**5**

Donatello

"Okay, so are we ready," Donnie asked as his brothers and Tammy pulled their packs on. He saw a chorus of nods as he began explaining the plan to them. All things considered, this was easier than the majority of the plans they had executed during their war against the foot and the krang. All they have to do here is to secure the prey and capture the predator; easy even for Mikey. Just as they were about to climb above Donnie looked to Tammy and said, "I would recommend staying hidden up there and let us handle the big one."

"You know I used to box at Kenny's Gym right?" she retorted almost hurt. "I know how to take care of myself. You boys don't need to protect little ol' me okay?"

"Um," Donnie hesitated not wanting to get her angry, "I'm not really worried about you fighting someone one on one Tammy, I'm more concerned with you getting pulverised by something as big and strong as a diesel truck. Speaking just physically, your mutation did make you stronger, but it isn't like how strong we are. On a bad day, I, the physically weakest of my brothers can easily lift a thousand plus pounds."

Tammy said nothing as she took in what Donnie said. Donnie could see her thinking about what he said and eventually said, "Alright, well then the little one is mine okay?"

"Deal." He turned to Mikey and nodded. With that Mikey blasted the manhole off and the four of them went to the surface.

"Okay the little one ended up hiding in this abandoned warehouse," Mikey explained as they fanned out. "The big one was smothering everything down the alley." The street was relatively empty thankfully; at least there would be no one to bother them. Donnie began checking his equipment and pulled out his mutant radar. No sooner had he turned it on when it began screeching; something was close by.

"We've got movement guys," Donnie yelled prompting them all to get ready. "I've got two signals within a hundred feet and getting closer as we speak. We shou-" However, Donnie could get nothing else out as a humongous mutant bowled them over. He and his two brothers landed in a heap; Mikey had pushed Tammy out of the way at the last second. She stood to guard the smaller, more human-sized, reptilian mutant who had emerged. They quickly pulled themselves up so as to see their enemy. Donnie could see that it was a huge mutant ram. It began to charge again, but it had already made a costly mistake: it shouldn't have shown itself to them and allowed them to get up because this time they were ready.

Raph pounced it quickly, while Mikey began going for its limbs. Donnie stayed in front using his superior range to keep it busy. It was a curious beast Donnie thought; it seemed to react oddly to their attacks. Most of the dangerous mutants they fought never seemed too confused by their tactics and could be led into easy traps due to instincts taking over. It almost seemed to Donnie that this creature was trying to think instead of just reacting. But that would mean…

"Tammy!" Donnie yelled, quickly turning around, "get away from the other one!" Finally getting a good look at the smaller mutant he could see it was a mutant based off a viper, complete with its two legs combining into a tail which it stood upon. It did not stand on the tip of the tail, but just a small portion of it while the rest curved up near the rest of its head; in essence, the viper was shaped similar to the letter U. Tammy had heard Donnie's warning and while she had reacted, the viper had leaped for her.

Tammy managed to hold the viper at bay, but quickly was pinned. The viper used its tongue to try to latch on to Tammy's face, but Tammy kept just out of reach. With a bit of effort Tammy used her tail to slam the viper mutant off of her. Tammy hopped up and yelled, "Okay, I've changed my mind Donnie! You boys can help with the small one!" Without another word Tammy changed color a few times and then became invisible. It was the signature ability of the chameleon, although likely more effective as a mutant. She was completely invisible while she remained still, but even when she moved it looked like how steam bent air; in other words you wouldn't see her unless you were paying attention.

Raph slammed the mutant ram down and began to go for the viper, but Donnie stopped him. "Don't," Donnie ordered, quickly trying to catch up with his own thoughts. It was more difficult to be so intelligent than many believed because more often than not Donnie was four to five moves ahead in his head. "We got it wrong Raph. We mixed up which was the predator and which was the prey!"

"You mean this mac truck isn't the predator?" Raph exclaimed.

"Exactly! It's likely like us to some extent. The viper has likely used some more advanced form of caudal luring to bewitch the viper."

"Dude, english," Mikey groaned.

"It's when a predator lures its prey with its tail," Donnie simplified angrily. "Point is, I don't want us attacking it without knowing how its tail works. If it were a simple viper then the tail would just try to beckon us forward hoping to use our curiosity against us, but being as how it's a mutant it could be secreting different pheromones or even using some sort of hypnosis."

"Well then guess dude because big boy here is getting back up!" Mikey yelled as he and Raph began holding down the mutant ram. They struggled against its bulk, but they managed to keep it down. Donnie looked at the viper slithering towards them and saw its tail behind its head make some movements. Donnie's head began to hurt, but he shook it off. The ram, however, began struggling massively and quickly broke free of the bonds. Donnie was batted away as it swung next at Raph.

"Shit," yelled Raph angrily, "to the shadows!" The three of them dove into hiding and began to focus more on ninjutsu than their brawn. Donnie's mind began furiously pounding through possibilities as he analyzed their foes. The viper had attacked Tammy instead of trying to gain control. This meant that it was female as well and likely could not control other females, which also meant that the ram was male. The ram had been entranced by the tail's movement, but Donnie had not smelled anything and it was unlikely that a human-ram hybrid could smell better than a turtle. Little known fact, but turtles had a better sense of smell than bloodhounds did. So, Donnie concluded, the tail could hypnotically suggest those of the opposite sex through eye contact.

"Guys!" Donnie yelled as he emerged from the shadows and slammed his bo over the head of the ram, "She uses her tail to hypnotize males, so no eye contact. Mikey you're up! Raph, you and I should take care of big boy here." And right on cue, Raph slid under the ram knocking it down. Mikey jumped in front of the viper, grabbed the knot of his facemask and turned it to the side of his head so the eyeholes moved; essentially blindfolding himself. Donnie would have preferred it if Leo were here as he was the only one of them who could fight equally as good without his eyes as with them, but Mikey should be okay. Mikey was the most naturally talented of the four and his reflexes were likely the quickest too.

"Any toys for this thing Donnie," Raph asked as he was slammed hard into a dumpster. Donnie sweeped the mutant ram with his bo and whacked it on its head as it fell. He quickly dug through his bag to find the web-blaster. The web-blaster was a bomb that exploded with a strong sticky substance akin to a spider's web that would hold an enemy in place. It would be perfect here if not for one problem: it wasn't strong enough for a mutant of this size. Although with some tinkering maybe it could be.

"Raph keep him busy," Donnie yelled as he emptied out his bag and began rummaging through its contents. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Raph pounce onto the large mutant and mount it like a UFC fighter. As he saw Raph pounding away, he turned his gaze to Mikey who was fighting the viper. Mikey seemed okay, but clearly Donnie had underestimated the viper. She was clearly using martial arts against him and making conscious decisions and impressive feints. After a few kunai got sent at Mikey, which he deflected with his nunchaku, it was obvious to Donnie that she had been trained; she was accurate, using the right stances and more importantly, the only ones who used kunai were ninjas.

Although he despised it, Donnie looked back down and quickly began adding chemicals and other compounds into the web-blaster. He hoped his rough calculations would be spot on as he added the final touch. "Raph get back!" he yelled. He hurled the web-blaster at the ram as Raph kicked off it and out of range. There was a small explosion and when the smoke settled the mutant ram was pinned awkwardly in the now hard-as-steel webs. Donnie estimated that it would only last an hour as opposed to the traditional twelve, since he had altered it on the fly to increase its strength. The ram struggled against it mightily, but Donnie's concoction held.

Donnie & Raph turned their attention to Mikey, but it seemed they were unneeded. Mikey had been struggling without the use of his eyes, but suddenly the viper slipped backwards. Mikey did not miss the opportunity as he slammed his nunchaku into her face, knocking her out. As Raph quickly tied her up, taking care to secure her tail especially as per Donnie's instructions, Tammy materialized next to Mikey.

"Couldn't let you boys have all the fun now could I?" she laughed as Mikey gave her a high five and thanked her for tripping the viper. Donnie had to admit it was impressive that even someone trained as this viper-woman was, could not see Tammy while she was nearly invisible. It was a testament to how effective Tammy's invisibility was.

"You fools will regret making us your enemy!" screeched the viper suddenly. "All enemies must die!" Donnie was unsure what to say. They had encountered hostile mutants before, but they rarely could communicate like this. They had definitely never encountered any who were apart of something larger like this viper-woman claimed. As Donnie was about to question her he felt Raph's hand on his shoulder.

"I hear movement," Raph whispered quietly as his eyes darted around them. "Like we're being surrounded." Donnie pulled himself from his big brain and listened intently. He could hear it too and it was a great many of them. They each redrew their weapons as they finally saw their opponents descend; countless ninjas dropped from the rooftops and surrounded them. As Donnie and his brothers closened, it started to pour, and a ring of thunder pounded above them.

They looked just like the Foot, down to their same black garb except for two major differences: one, they were of varying sizes, thus looking less uniform next to one another and two, their bandanas held the kanji for dream. It looked like they had discovered exactly what was behind the graffiti Mikey had scouted.

As the Dream moved in, two of them pulled the bound viper to safety and freed her. She stretched to her full height and then looked down upon Donnie and his brothers with loathing. "You turtles do not have to be our enemy. I am Venom and we of the Dream Clan are all mutants like you. The humans are our real enemies, but if you so choose to ally yourselves with the wrong side then so be it." She held her hand up as the Dream watched it waiting for the command. "Dream ninja, finish them," she ordered bringing her hand down.

That was when all hell broke loose. Donnie batted two airborne Dream ninjas away with his bo, but it snapped against the weight of the mutants. Left with the pieces he made a mental note to expedite the use of his new prototype bo back in his lab. He spun the two halves in his hand like escrima sticks and went back on the offensive. Raph, Mikey and Tammy were in a similar state. They had fought far worse opponents, but unprepared as they were against an army of mutants whose ninja skills were quite impressive their chances were slim to none. Donnie felt his shell come into contact with the shells of his brothers as they backed into each other. The rain depressed him and Donnie began looking for an escape. The problem was, the manhole nearest them was too close to their lair and they couldn't risk being followed. Raph too had seen the manhole, but he was hesitant to go for it as there was guarantee that Tammy would make it the twenty-five feet away it was; after all Tammy didn't have a hard shell like they did to deflect most weapons with. Just as Donnie was about to tell Raph to go for the manhole with hopes that they could lead their enemies to a more advantageous location in the sewers, he heard the one who called herself Venom scream. It was not a scream of glee or anger, but of fear. Like a video game being paused, everyone stopped to look at her.

She was looking up at a fire escape, but it was too dark to see anything. Just then a bolt of lightning illuminated the sky and Donnie felt his heart drop into his stomach. On the fire escape, crouched over its railing, was the Shredder! He dropped down next to Venom and the three Dream ninjas acting as her small personal guard jumped in to protect her. He kicked two of them aside and then knocked the other down under his boot. Shredder swung a ferocious swing of his claw at Venom as she jumped back.

"You're supposed to be dead!" she screamed accusingly at the Shredder. It was surprisingly quiet as the rain continued to pour. The Shredder was crouched in a threatening stance, but stood and relaxed himself. He threw his head back and laughed the same maniacal laughter that chilled Donnie's blood to the bone; somehow the Shredder was alive!

"Foot Ninja!" the Shredder yelled, and the lightning, as if on cue, illuminated them all along the rooftops and fire escape. It seemed that there were as many Foot ninja as there were Dream ninja. "It seems we have found those who have tarnished our clan's name. And if that was not enough blessing, it seems the fates have deigned to serve us our greatest enemies upon a silver platter!" The Shredder extended his claws and flexed his whole body as he began laughing menacingly again. "Leave no survivors, but remember the Turtles are mine!"

As the Foot ninja jumped down from the rooftops, Venom screeched in anger again. "Dream ninja retreat! Rest assured," she said aimed at the Shredder, "our Master will hear of this!" She slammed down a smoke bomb and her and the Dream clan were gone leaving Donnie, Tammy and his brothers in the same predicament as before. The Foot surrounded them as the Shredder walked purposefully towards them.

Raph must have let his anger fuel him because he pulled away from them to face the Shredder. As he closed the gap the Shredder stopped and laughed once again. The laugh was still just as frightening, but it no longer seemed threatening like before. Donnie could see the rain had let up and it was now perfectly silent.

That was when the Shredder removed his helmet. "Looks like the basics still seem to work, huh guys? After all, deception is one of the most effective tools in a ninja's arsenal." If they had not seen so many bizarre things in their lives, Donnie could swear he would have passed out. It was Leo.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys, once again sorry for the wait, but I've uploaded chapters 5&6 today and updated 1-4 as well. 7&8 will be here two weeks from now. Thanks.**

**6**

Raphael

"Raph you can let go now."

It took Raph another fifteen seconds, but eventually he pulled away from the embrace he had locked his brother in. They had all swarmed Leo, but Raph had been reluctant to let go. Raph was a pretty tough guy, all things said, but he could get emotional more so than any of his brothers. Seeing Leo again was just more than he had expected and he was overjoyed. Taking a moment to take it all in was fleeting, however, as Donnie began the interrogation.

"Why are you dressed as the Shredder!" he asked incredulously.

"First let's get below," Leo instructed, quickly going from his happy self into what Raph often referred to as 'leader' mode. Leo put the helmet back on and within seconds the four of them heaved the mutant ram upon their shoulders and hot footed it to a nearby abandoned warehouse which had a larger entrance to the sewers beneath it. Once in the sewer Leo signaled to about six of the ninjas who he had brought with him to continue carrying the ram. Before they picked up the ram, however, Leo ordered, "Yame!"

It struck Raph as odd. _Yame_ meant stop in Japanese and it was something Splinter had said a great deal in the dojo particularly during spars or training. It was like Leo was actually in charge of these Foot ninja. Before Raph could ask though, Mikey did.

"So wait," he began awkwardly, "are you like actually the freakin Shredder?"

Leo laughed maniacally as the Shredder for a few moments sending a chill down Raph's spine. He was truly disturbed by how accurate the laugh was, especially since it had truly fooled him. If he had paid attention he would have seen Leo's two ninjato swords upon the Shredder's back, but as it was, Leo was right; deception is a powerful tool of a ninja and there was no one in the alley looking at anything except the Shredder.

After a few seconds Leo stopped the laughter and removed the helmet, handing it to one of the Foot ninja. He laughed again, but this time while he certainly sounded menacing and unlike himself, the fear he had inspired just earlier was gone.

"Wait," said Mikey snatching the helmet from the Foot ninja's hands. He quickly fumbled with the helmet eventually getting it on. There was an odd breathing noise that echoed in the sewer and then Mikey said, "Luke...I am your father," in a voice that would have done James Earl Jones proud. Raph slapped the helmet off his younger brother, but couldn't help laughing along with everyone else. And oddly enough that literally meant _everyone_ else. The Foot ninja had broken into fits of giggles and spurts of laughter which just left Raph feeling wary. Foot ninja didn't giggle.

"So," Donnie began, picking up the helmet and handing it back to the Foot ninja, "the helmet was made to reverberate the sound and release it at a decibel and pitch meant to instill fear? Well I suppose it makes sense that the Kuro Kabuto would embody it's clan's and wearer's emotions. Still…I can't believe you actually put it on."

"Don't remind me," sighed Leo as he pulled off the Shredder's armor piece by piece. "I almost didn't wear it, but in the end I just sucked up my pride and did it."

"Wait I thought you cut this thing in two?" Donnie asked curiously. "Remember that part about you slicing the top half of the Shredder's head off?"

"Yeah I did and yes I do remember," nodded Leo. "Karai had it restored; it is a family heirloom…" Raph wanted to make a comment at that, but decided it best not to. He had hated, no still hated the Shredder, but good or evil the Shredder had still been Karai's father, so Raph let it go; Karai wasn't her father. As Leo removed the Shredder's armor a different Foot ninja came up and produced a sack which Leo began depositing the Shredder's armor in. Raph could see Leo had not changed his clothing in the last three years. Above the waist Leo had the straps for his swords, samurai-esque shoulder pads (albeit smaller than traditional) and black ninja gauntlets over his wrists and forearms. On the bottom he still wore traditional ninja gear: a black yoroi hakama (loose ninja pants fastened at the ankles, knees and waist), split-toed jika-tabi boots, shin guards and a black tenugui (a towel or sash with many uses, but often best used for climbing) as a belt. The scar he'd received from the Shredder down over his left eye had faded, but it still shone a bright white. Raph, like all of them, liked the scar because he felt it signified the close of one part of their lives; and like it or not, the Shredder had been a large part of their lives.

"Oh and speaking of which," Leo said suddenly looking around him, "all of you can change if you want to. Keep the clothing, but ditch those bandanas. Just toss those on the sewer floor where they belong." As if they were one, Raph saw all of the Foot ninja toss their bandanas to the ground; something which he had to admit was satisfying to watch. He and his brothers had fought the Foot clan for so long it was hard to imagine that they had ever once had honor. With the exception of Karai (admittedly so) he had never seen even a lick of honor from any of them.

In any case, the bandanas with the symbol of the Foot Clan were now where they belonged; a place no one would likely ever see them again. When he finally tore his gaze from the bandanas, however, Raph saw many of the ninjas beginning to remove their ninja garb and he was shocked to see that every last one of them was a mutant. All mutants! Except unlike the Dream Clan they were mostly humanoid in appearance; like Tammy! They were of all varying species, but mostly types of mammals and reptiles. The one who had procured the sack for the Shredder's armor was even a turtle; a red-eared slider like them no less! A really freaking hot turtle if Raph had to be honest. She was incredibly sexy with a slimmer waist then they had and solid hips that protruded out further than theirs which actually gave her an hourglass figure despite turtles tending to be round due to their shells. Her chest was certainly human-like and even well-endowed though her shell covered her up, however, Raph thought it very likely that her shell probably split open or parted much like how Tammy's skin thinned to expose her...airbags. If he weren't already head over heels for Tammy he would certainly be interested. She wore a miniskirt and cropped top along with gauntlets and shin guards like Leo. Her long hair was a brilliant scarlet and in a braid down her back. Unlike everyone else around them she was wearing a white facemask like he and his brothers.

The lady turtle turned to Leo presenting the sack with the Shredder's armor and said, "Are we to return this to that woman now?" It was perhaps subtle, but even Raph could hear the ice in the female turtle's voice; was it jealousy or just annoyance?

Leo looked somewhat sheepishly in response, but then said, "No Marie, Karai will come get it later; she's one of the few who actually knows where the lair is." Marie looked annoyed, but Leo quickly added, "That's not important now though, we should get to the lair first. This big fellow here," he said motioning towards the mutant ram, "won't be restrained too much longer." A thin smile formed on Raph's face; his brother and this turtle were an item! Escaping the situation under the guise of responsibility was a tactic Leo had been using for years. This Marie and him, at least to some extent, were definitely involved. Which means she must not be too happy about having met Karai. Raph's grin widened at the thought of Karai and he felt slightly bad for Leo. Marie had no clue about the truth; she most likely suspected Karai to be an ex-lover and while Karai was certainly attractive as far as women went, she was also a human. Leo was not like Raph or Donnie or Mikey; he was level-headed and the thought of loving a human was not something Raph believed Leo had even considered. Unfortunately for Leo, however, Marie did not know this. While Leo and Karai were certainly close and Leo certainly kinder to her than likely anyone else, Raph knew that Leo only saw Karai as a kindred spirit; someone whose view on the world, swordplay and honor were like his own. Still, it had been three years since he had seen his brother, so he decided to help him out this time.

"Yeah, Leo's right," he said drawing confused looks from Mikey and Donnie, "we should get Mr. 'Big and Bad' the billy goat to the lair before that stuff holding him dissolves." As the group began to disperse, Leo put his hand on Raph's shoulder and the two shared a quiet look into each other's eyes. Leo was the most similarly built to Raph standing at the same height with many similar features, but while Raph was a bit more 'hulking' in his size, Leo was more 'olympian' in stature. Raph it seemed was predisposed to break and power through opponents while Leo was set to a more balanced approach.

"Thanks," whispered Leo as Marie and the rest of the mutants followed Mikey to the lair.

"So what's up with all the other mutants man?" Mikey asked as the four of them sat in the dojo with a bottle of Saké.

"I found them during my travels to eliminate the Foot," Leo answered after a swig and then handed the bottle to Raph. They had started drinking traditionally with _sakazukis_, saucer-like cups, but after their second bottle had just started drinking right from the bottle.

"What you just ran into them all?" Donnie asked.

"Well I ran into Marie first," Leo began with a small blush which Raph immediately picked up on. "That was in the Foot headquarters in D.C. where she was being tortured for basically being a turtle." They were all silent as they understood the implication; the Foot had thought she was a part of their family. "I found and rescued her and then offered her to join me. If they were going to hunt her for being part of us anyway, then she might as well be part of us."

"That when you two became a thing?" Raph asked slyly.

"N...I mean wait...uh I, err...huh?" choked Leo. It was odd that Leo was such a super-ninja who was unphased by any situation and yet here he was blubbering like an idiot. Raph knew that enjoying this was likely to add to his laundry list of reasons to go to Hell, but he didn't plan to stop. And apparently he wasn't going alone either.

"Yeah Leo," Donnie mocked, "spill the beans. How'd that relationship start? You tell her you were a super-turtle right then?"

"Awww, come on Donnie," Mikey interjected, "Leo's too modest to brag...but show off? Now that's a different story." They all laughed at that, even Leo.

"Well," Leo said pausing for a moment to take another swig from the bottle Mikey had handed him, "I guess it's that obvious huh?" His brothers all nodded making him blush again. "Well yeah, we're an item. It's a little bit difficult though."

"How so?" asked Raph. "In case you couldn't tell I'm with Tammy and things have become better not difficult."

"Oh I could tell," Leo laughed, "but I'd be willing to bet you guys are still in the 'you're the only other thing that matters in the universe' phase and still all over each other, am I right?" Raph didn't respond, but he didn't have to since Donnie and Mikey both did. "Yeah, all those shows about women making life difficult...well they're exaggerated, but there's some truth in it too; the long term becomes a challenge. Don't get me wrong, it's a challenge that is totally worth it in the end and of course it works both ways." Raph nodded his head slowly unsure of what to expect from his future now, but accepted the bottle and took a few sips.

"So why is it difficult?" he asked.

Leo was quiet for a second and then smiled. "You'll see tomorrow. There are a lot of surprises in store. For now," he grunted as he pulled his sword straps off and tossed them aside with his ninjato, "there's something I need from each of you." He rose to his feet and snatched the bottle from Donnie. He strode across the room and poured some before their father's crypt. He set the bottle down and then walked to the dojo's storage racks and pulled down their old _shinais_; practice weapons like their current weapons made of flexible bamboo. Leo returned to his brothers who all rose to meet him. He handed out the shinais and they all stepped away from each other.

Like not a day had passed they began going through their katas, or stances, like always. Raph could feel the alcohol slowly disappearing from his system as he went through his katas. Stance after stance his chi slowly strengthened his body and mind and soon he was pouring through his katas at breakneck speed. He could see his brothers doing the same, but then noticed Leo had stopped. Donnie and Mikey noticed too and the three came to a stop. "What?" asked Raph.

"I'm not sure," Leo answered, "just a hunch, but I think it would be easier to show than to explain." He tossed one of his shinai to the floor behind him and placed his left hand behind his back. Leo assumed a stance and then said with authority, "Randori!"

At first Raph was insulted. Leo was good, but to have the audacity to think he could take the three of them all at once with one hand behind his back was unbelievable. They stood motionless for a few seconds until finally Raph let his temper get the better of him and he charged. This prompted Donnie and Mikey to follow and soon there was a flurry of swipes and thrusts going around the dojo.

But no matter how many times they attacked the only noise they heard were the whiffs of their weapons through the air or the thunk of bamboo on bamboo. Raph finally managed to hook Leo's shinai and flip it out of his hand and towards the ceiling. Like lightning, Leo, still with his hand behind his back, did a somersault kick into Donnie and Raph, kicked hard off Mikey's shell and shot off like a rocket across the dojo floor on his shell catching his shinai before it struck the ground. While still skidding on his shell he kicked up and stood at the ready again. Raph was startled to see that Leo was not only still armed and only using one hand, but he had disarmed one of Mikey's 'chucks and Donnie was on his second round. The rules they had used in this particular version of 'randori' was that you fought till a shinai hit the floor. You only had two chances since they each had two weapons except for Donnie who could pick his up once more. If it were a normal fight three-on-one then there would be little chance to win, but since you only had to disarm, it was possible to win often enough. Leo had handicapped himself though and was doing extraordinarily well.

Donnie thrust his bo at Leo who quickly jumped on it, springboarded up and over into a jump kick that sent one of Raph's sai to the floor. He kneed Raph in the gut and then back flipped over another swing of Donnie's bo. Mikey managed to swing his nunchaku into Leo's shinai and then aimed a hard kick at Leo's gut. Leo managed to block the kick with his knee and just before Raph and Donnie could pounce, he turned his shinai in his hand and flipped Mikey over him and into Donnie disarming them both as they spilled to the floor. But it seemed too late; Raph had Leo. He was to Leo's back and in the air striking when Leo had thrown Mikey. Leo, instead of trying to dodge or move away though, continued his forward motion almost like he was going to roll, but shot his foot up backwards catching Raph in his jaw and sending him back. Before Raph could hit the ground, however, Leo intercepted him in midair and quickly flicked his last sai away and then promptly landed on his feet as Raph came down hard onto his shell.

For about a minute there was silence. None of them said anything as they all just stared at each other. Raph was beyond pissed, but he had learned many years ago that while it had been an effective tool overpowering his adversaries, now he could never defeat an equally skilled opponent while enraged. His anger would only help him power through those already less skilled than him. Their father had been right; anger could help fuel you, but blinding anger was just that...blinding.

Surprisingly, it was Mikey to speak first. "So, what? You just wanted to belittle us or something." On the surface Raph couldn't help but agree, however, deep down he knew that wasn't like Leo.

"Of course not," answered Leo quietly as he stood before them, "I just knew you wouldn't believe me unless I showed you."

"Believe what?" Donnie asked.

"You guys have neglected your training."

"What are you talking about," yelled Raph angrily, "I train three hours everyday!"

"Same," echoed Donnie and Mikey.

"I don't mean your strength and conditioning or your katas," responded Leo slightly annoyed. "Those have been ingrained in us by now. I'd be willing to bet you'd feel sick if you missed training. What I mean is, you don't spar anymore." No one argued. Partly because it was true, but they had been fighting above nearly every day, so it wasn't like they weren't keeping up with experience in battle and Donnie told Leo so.

"Yeah," began Leo, "and while that's true it doesn't change that you've only been fighting against mutants. When was the last time you guys actually fought against a ninja?" Again quiet, but this time Raph understood. Leo was right; the last time he had fought a ninja was...it was Leo...three years ago! Now that he thought about it, it made sense; the mutants they fought with were just big brawls not actual battles that used all of their skills. Raph couldn't believe what he was thinking, but he had actually discovered one negative of the Foot being disbanded: he wasn't able to keep his skills sharp on them. It was still quiet when Leo placed his hand behind his back and took his stance again. "Randori!" he commanded again.

"What? You're just gonna kick our shells again?" asked Mikey.

"Yes and no," grinned Leo. "I figure you guys'll take a few of these to find your rhythm and get back to where you guys were before. In the meantime I can fight challenging opponents like you guys for the first time in a while. See I fight ninjas all the time, but none as good as me."

Donnie stood up and got into position and said, "Is this like the consolation prize to make us feel better?"

Leo laughed and then said, "Well if I can rack up some wins on you guys in the process I'll take it I suppose. Now stop wasting time you guys...Randori!"

Getting your butt kicked was never fun, but for some reason Raph charged in with a stupidly happy grin.


End file.
